Working Safely With Air Nailers

To avoid an injury — and possibly a lawsuit — set a strong safety policy and don’t bend the rules

We started using air nailers in our company about
five years ago. Looking back, this change probably
had a greater effect on our productivity than
any other. Air nailers enable even the lowest skilled worker
to become a high-speed money-maker. We no longer
have to spend hours training recruits on the art of speed
nailing — no more purple thumbs, hammer marks, or split
boards.
At first it seemed like a capitalist dream: The tool helped
our employees to work faster and more cost-effectively. But
this holds true only if you don't fail to overlook one very
important issue — safety. The combination of the lowestskilled
worker and a powerful air nailer